The world is full of a variety of textures. Learning how to sense textures in three-dimensional forms can help us learn how to represent textures two-dimensionally. In this fun activity, we’ll be investigating and describing our natural world by creating rubbings of different textures.

Start with one of your items. How can you describe the way it looks and feels? Is it soft? Hard? Prickly? Sticky? Bumpy? Sometimes it’s helpful to think in terms of antonyms -- or opposites -- when compiling the list.

2.

Fold your paper in half, and do a rubbing on one side. To do this, place the item underneath the paper, and colour the paper with crayon.

3.

If you’re doing this with friends or family, can they guess what the texture of the item is just by the rubbing? Try it out!

4.

If you’re making more than one rubbing, are you able to categorize them as man-made or natural?

5.

On the other half of the paper, try to replicate the rubbing you have created. You may have to use different artistic techniques such as cross-hatching or stippling. Do certain techniques work best for different textures?